Fish basket support

ABSTRACT

A support member for supporting a fish basket from the side of a row boat. The support member is of unitary construction and comprises an elongated rod having one end bent to define a hook portion onto which can be fastened a cord, line or bail secured to the fish basket. The other end of the rod is bent at an obtuse angle and has a pair of closely spaced parallel leg segments with one of the leg segments defining a FIG. 4. The parallel leg segments are adapted to be inserted into an aperture in the gunwale such as the oarlock of the boat. The horizontal portion of the FIG. 4 abuts the gunwale of the boat to prevent rotation of the support member in the oarlock.

United tates Fatent 1 1 Baker 1 51 Mar. 27, 1973 [54] FISH'BASKET SUPPORT [76] Inventor: Arthur W. Baker, Rt. No. 1, PD. P' Examme' J'Franklm FOSS Box 844, Excelsior, Minn. 55331 At'omey-Alfred [22] Filed: Apr. 13, 1971 57 ABSTRACT 1 1 pp N05 1 A support member for supporting a fish basket from the side of a row boat. The support member is of uni- [52] US. Cl 248/302, 43/55 tary'construcfion and c0mPrises elongated Tod [51] Int. Cl. ..A47f 7/00 ing one end bent 1946mm a hook P Onto which 53 Field f s ug mz, 339, 303, 304, 205 R, can be fastened a cord, line or bail secured to the fish 248/217, 219, 220, 221; 211/106; 43/55, 11 basket. The other end of the rod is bent at an obtuse angle and has a pair of closely spaced parallel leg seg- [56] References Cited ments with one of the leg segments defining a FIG. 4. v v The parallel leg segments are adapted to be inserted UNITED STATES PATENTS into an aperture in the gunwale such as the oarlock of 2,591,891 4 1952 Thorsen ..43 11x the boal- The horizontal Portion of the abuts 2,701,702 2/1955 Diederich.... ..248/302 the gunwale of the boat to prevent rotation of the sup- 1,518,900 12/1924 Colbert ..248/220 X port member in the 'oarlock, 2,234,989 3/1941 Tkach ..248/220.5 X 1,553,212 9/1925 Bear ..248/303 5 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures Ratented March 27, 1973 3,722,844

INVENTOR ARTHUR W. BAKER ATTORNEY FISH BASKET SUPPORT BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Fishermen often desire to keep their catch alive as long as possible while they continue to fish. To accomplish this, the fish are kept in a net, a porous basket or some other type of creel which is allowed to hang in the water so that the fish have a continual supply of fresh water. Arrangements of this type are disclosed in the Thorsen patent, U. S. Pat. No. 2,591,891, the Anderson patent, U. S. Pat. No. 2,584,530, the Giebel patent, U. S. Pat. No. 2,920,855, the Pederson patent, U. S. Pat. No. 2,834,138, the Garland patent, U. S. Pat. No. 2,795,888 and the Terwilliger patent, U. S. Pat. No. 2,564,513 and these patents constitute the most closely related prior art known to me. The Giebel, Pederson,

Garland and Terwilliger patents all employ a screw type clamp arrangement to secure the net or basket support member to the side of the boat. This construction is relatively costly compared to my invention, can mar the boat at the point of use and can come loose or break. The Anderson patent disclosed a .support member formed from steel rod and which has legs welded thereto adapted to clamp onto the gunwale of a boat. Again, because of the non-unitary construction involving welding, it tends to be more costly than the present invention and, in addition, also tends to scratch and mar the boat to which it is affixed. Also, it can fail by the breaking of the weld. Finally,'the Thorsen invention, while it cooperates with the oarlock of the boat and therefore does not cause undue marring of the boat, it is comprised of several separate pieces and is substantially more expensive to manufacture than my invention and more reliable due to possible breakage.

The preferred embodiment of my invention comprises abasket supporting member which is of unitary construction, is easily manufactured with a minimum of tooling, and which, in the preferred embodiment, cooperates with the oarlock of a fishing boat. A steel rod is bent at one end to define a hook onto which the basket, net or creel can be fastened. The other end of the rod is bent at an obtuse angle with respect to the main shaft portion and this end portion has formed therein (by bending) a pair of closely spaced parallel segments which can fit easily into the opening of an oarlock. One portion of one segment is bent to form a FIG. 4 or configuration which cooperates with the gunwale to prevent turning of said holder in the oarlock and, in the preferred embodiment, such configuration forms a FIG. 4 such that the horizontal portion of the 4 will abut the gunwale of the boat to prevent the parallel segments from rotating within the oarlock.

Accordingly, it is the primary object of this invention to provide an improved fish basket support member of unitary construction which is inexpensive to manufacture yet effective in performance.

DESCRIPTION OF FIGURES This and other objects and features of my invention will become apparent from a reading of the following detailed specification in light of the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the preferred embodiment; and

FIG. 2 illustrates the manner in which the invention is used.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring first to FIG. 1, there is shown an elongated rod 2 having a shank portion 4, a base portion 6 and an endportion 8 formed integrally therewith by bending the rod. The rod is preferably formed from cold rolled steel but other metals or even plastics may be utilized.

The base portion 6 is bent downwardly at an obtuse angle a. While this angle is not critical, in practice it may range from to or even more depending upon the length of the shank 4, the manner chosen for securing the fish basket to the end portion 8 and the size of the basket used. The base portion 6 includes a first leg segment 10 and a second closely spaced parallel segment 12 which is formed by bending the rod back upon itself. The segment 12 has integrally formed therewith a terminal portion which is bent similar to a FIG. 4 in the preferred embodiment. The terminal portion could be bent to form an ellipse, a square or other geometric shape; however, the FIG. 4 configuration is preferred because the horizontal portion 14 of the FIG. 4 crosses the parallel segments 10 and 12 at substantially a right angle but is displaced somewhat out of the plane defined by segments 10 and 12 so that a gap or space exists between portion 14 and segments 10 and 12 which gap enables horizontal portion 14 to rest against the gunwale of a boat and thus prevent the holder from rotating as will be shown later.

The end portion 8 of the rod 2 is bent downwardly at an acute angle and includes a U shaped hook portion to which the fish basket is to be fastened. If desired, the outer leg 16 of the hook is bent backwardtoward the shank 4 at its endmost part 18 such that it is practically impossible for the basket securing means to accidentally become disengaged from the hook portion 8 due to rocking of the boat.

FIG. 2 illustrates the manner in which the support member of this invention is used. The downwardly extending leg segments 10 and 12 are inserted in the oarlock or other aperture 22 in the gunwale 20 of the boat. When in place, the shank 4 and end portion 8 extend outwardly and upwardly from the side of the boat and the fish basket therefore settles in the water a predetermined distance from the side of the boat.

The horizontal portion 14 of the base 6 abuts the gunwale of the boat on its inward surface and prevents the support member 2 from rotating.

Whilel have shown and described a preferred embodiment of my invention, it will be understood that many variations may be employed in size and shape of the various parts or segments and therefore the inventions is to be limited only by the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. A support member for suspending a fish basket from the gunwale of a boat, said gunwale having an aperture therein, comprising:

an elongated rod having a base portion and an end portion integrally formed at opposite ends thereof;

said rod being bent at said end portion to define a downwardly depending U-shaped hook member from which a fish basket may be suspended;

said rod being bent at said base portion at an obtuse angle to define first and second parallel and closely spaced segments for insertion in said aperture, said second segment having a terminal portion being ture is an oarlock on said boat gunwale and the horizontal part of said FIG. 4 abuts the gunwale to prevent rotation of said support member in said oarlock.

5. A support member as in claim 1 wherein said rod is rust and corrosion resistant.

l t I i 

1. A support member for suspending a fish basket from the gunwale of a boat, said gunwale having an aperture therein, comprising: an elongated rod having a base portion and an end portion integrally formed at opposite ends thereof; said rod being bent at said end portion to define a downwardly depending U-shaped hook member from which a fish basket may be suspended; said rod being bent at said base portion at an obtuse angle to define first and second parallel and closely spaced segments for insertion in said aperture, said second segment having a terminal portion being bent so as to form a figure which cooperates with said gunwale to prevent turning of said holder in said aperture.
 2. A support member as iN claim 1 wherein said rod is formed from steel.
 3. A support member as in claim 1 wherein said figure defines a FIG.
 4. 4. A support member as in claim 1 wherein said aperture is an oarlock on said boat gunwale and the horizontal part of said FIG. 4 abuts the gunwale to prevent rotation of said support member in said oarlock.
 5. A support member as in claim 1 wherein said rod is rust and corrosion resistant. 